Illinois Humanities, in partnership with Brooks Permissions, the Poetry Foundation, and the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts, is proud to announce the winners of the 2025 Gwendolyn Brooks Youth Poetry Awards. This is an annual competition for Illinois poets in grades K–12. Twenty-five Winners and 12 Honorable Mentions were chosen among 867 submissions, from 187 schools across Illinois!
Winners of 2025 receive a monetary prize, publication in a chapbook, and the honor of participating in Brooks’s legacy. Winning poets will be celebrated at a ceremony on Saturday, September 13, at the Reva and David Logan Center for the Art, at the University of Chicago. They will recite their poems for friends, families, and teachers.
Young poets have submitted over 5296 poems since 2017. Dozens of artists and educators have participated in the annual selection process.
Poems this year reflect the turbulent times we live in. They share laughter, grief, anxiety, and hope. Illinois Humanities Executive Director Gabrielle H. Lyon said, “This year’s submissions were bold, compassionate, and playful–-and they have a message. Youth…are calling on us as adults and educators to live into Gwendolyn Brooks’s legacy. It is our privilege and duty to recognize and nurture the generation of writers and artists who are just starting to make their way.”
The 2025 Gwendolyn Brooks Youth Poetry Award Winners follow.
KINDERGARTEN
‘Happy Days” by Alantis Martin, Peoria
FIRST GRADE
“Loves Me” by Essence Dean, Chicago
“Ballgown, Please!” by Jennifer Eklund, Peoria
Honorable Mention: “Field Trip Day” by Major Garvan, Chicago
SECOND GRADE
“Wind and Grass” by Jermany Ashford, Peoria
“That Terrible Thing” by Oliver Spanner, Oak Park
Honorable Mention: “Rain” by Maryam Zeeshan, Chicago
THIRD GRADE
“The Hibiscus Flower” by Delilah Long, Peoria
“Stapler” by Rani Patel, Chicago
Honorable Mention: “Untitled” by Carmen Foley Strasburg, Winnetka
FOURTH GRADE
“The Nature Walk” by Mya Watkins, Peoria
“Our World is Crumbling” by Bella Xia, Des Plaines
Honorable Mention: “Rain and Desert” by Roy Conley, Skokie
FIFTH GRADE
“Light” by Isabelle Lakier, Chicago
“The frog on the lilypad” by Ray Weitzman, Chicago
Honorable Mention: “Being Me” by Anna Vermylen, Chicago
SIXTH GRADE
“Vinegar & Sage” by Vivian Steel, Skokie
“The Harvest of Silence” by Matthew Tesiano Cagadas, Skokie
Honorable Mention: “Blitz” by Vera Volckens, Oak Park
SEVENTH GRADE
“A Last Effort” by Eli Teper, Champaign
“I am from” by Sophia Javier, Chicago
Honorable Mention: “Eternal” by Caroline Field, Skokie
EIGHTH GRADE
“Storm’s Coming” by Khloie Waterhouse, Cerro Gordo
“intertidal” by Beatriz Whitford-Rodríguez, Chicago
Honorable Mention: “Sculpted Lies” by Maddy Willard, Cerro Gordo
NINTH GRADE
“I Dream of Tomorrow’s America” by Ellie Hersher-Dale, Evanston
“Dementia” by Angel’la Murray, Oak Park
Honorable Mention: “The Quiet Gaze” by Haritha Jagadeesan Suganya, Aurora
TENTH GRADE
“requested funeral rites” by Leonidas Leigh, Oswego
“Shock and Awe, Attrition, Punishment, Boxing” by Serafina Zethmayr, Justice
Honorable Mention: “what the comb said to the black girl” by Zoe Cobb, Chicago
ELEVENTH GRADE
“Outrunning Grief” by Ruby Kemp, Oswego
“Nature of Destruction” by Antaya Malnati, Oswego
Honorable Mention: “The Name I Made My Own” by Melynda Patton, Oswego
TWELFTH GRADE
“If They Take Her” by Dalila Martinez, Chicago
“Toto, I don’t think we’re in Chi-town anymore” by Morgan Montoya, Chicago
Honorable Mention: “RAMBLINGS OF A SINNER AS AN ABECEDARIAN” by Finch Shaw, Lincoln.